Monday, January 7, 2019

thermodynamics - Why is entropy an extensive quantity?


If we have two identical isolated macroscopic systems both with energy $E$. The number of accessible states of each of them is $\Omega(E)$ and hence the entropy is $\ln\Omega(E)$. Now if we put them in thermal contact to form a larger isolated system with energy 2$E$ (suppose there are weakly interacting). Then the number of accessible states of the whole system is


$$\sum_x\Omega(x)\Omega(2E-x)$$ but not just $$\Omega(E)\Omega(E)$$


So the total entropy is $$\ln\sum_x\Omega(x)\Omega(2E-x)$$


But not just $$\ln[\Omega(E)\Omega(E)]=\ln\Omega(E)+\ln\Omega(E)=S_1+S_2$$.


So why do we say entropy is extensive?





No comments:

Post a Comment

classical mechanics - Moment of a force about a given axis (Torque) - Scalar or vectorial?

I am studying Statics and saw that: The moment of a force about a given axis (or Torque) is defined by the equation: $M_X = (\vec r \times \...